Cannizaro: No-brainer for Gridley to miss game

Mississippi State’s Ryan Gridley bats third for the Bulldogs and is hitting .346 with five homers.

STARKVILLE — Shortly after Andy Cannizaro was hired in December, shortstop Ryan Gridley informed the new Mississippi State coach of a future and uncommon scheduling conflict.

The wedding of Gridley’s sister Samantha and her boyfriend of eight years, David, was scheduled for April 22 in Nashville. The Bulldogs were scheduled to play Alabama on April 22 in Starkville. Gridley intended to be with his family, which he referred to as the most important thing in his life.

“I told him, ‘Coach Cannizaro, I discussed this with Coach (John) Cohen at the time and now that you’re the head coach, I need to let you know that this is very important to me and my family,’” Gridley said. “I also told him, ‘If you want me to stay, you are my head coach and I will respect your decision. If you don’t want me to go and need me to play, I will stay for you and the team.’”

Cannizaro didn’t need much time to offer an answer.

“To me, it was an absolute no-brainer,” Cannizaro said. “He needs to go there. He needs to be at his sister’s wedding. He needs to be in those pictures. He needs to be in those photos. He needs to be in those stories. He needs to go give his speech. All those kind of things … that is a once-in-a-lifetime moment that he can’t miss. He needs to go do that and he has my full blessing on it.”

The way Gridley explained it, his sister and her fiancé did not want to get married before this weekend because they were not living together and they do not want to marry afterward because Samantha will soon have to leave for her residency training.

In an age when colleges continue to sell recruits on the idea of “family,” Gridley’s situation has sparked conversation and some debate on local sports radio, online message boards and social media on what obligations a scholarship athlete has to his/her team. Some argue that Gridley should not miss a game unless he is injured, while many, especially those close to the program, offer support.

“You can’t not be supportive of it because that’s something that you need to be at,” Stovall said. “I mean, it’s your sister’s wedding. If it was me, I would have to go, too.”

Gridley is hitting .346 with five home runs, 30 RBIs and seven stolen bases. He hit three homers combined in the two previous seasons in 398 at-bats. Gridley hit a respectable .284 last year, but lacked the power he is displaying in 2017.

The difference, he said, can be attributed to a bone chip he had surgically removed from his left knee in August. For two years before the surgery, Gridley said he was unable perform lifts with his legs such as deadlifts and squats. Gridley was back on the field in two months after the surgery and was cleared to strengthen his legs, which has helped him at the plate.

“I could feel that there was that little twinge that was gone once I had the surgery,” Gridley said. “I thought it would be there forever. I don’t feel anything and it’s the most freeing feeling.”

For one day, the Bulldogs, who have won four straight SEC series, will have to make it work without Gridley and from Cannizaro’s perspective, that’s fine.

“He’s been phenomenal for us,” Cannizaro said. “That’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that he absolutely has to be there for.

“As much as we want him playing shortstop and hitting in our three-hole, that day, that family obligation is going to take him there for his sister’s wedding. We’ll miss him for the day, but he needs to go do that and he has our blessing on that.”